THE KINGS QUEST - REBUILDING THEIR KINGDOM

KINGS QUEST (PART 1) – REGROUP THE WOUNDED AND REPAIR THE FAITH.

RECOVERY FROM BATTLE

• REGROUPING OF THE FORCES AND COUNTING CASUALTIES
As we have already seen many of the Kings players have decided to run for the hills and look for greener pastures elsewhere since the Kings have lost the rugby Promo/relegation battle against the Lions leaving us to retrieve our wounded from the battle field. Our biggest task at this stage would have to be to retain as many players of our squad as possible (especially the young guns like Gates, Shakes, du Preez and van Breda) to at least have some sort of foundation to rebuild on.  

Obviously this process should have been started before the promo/relegation match and discussed with players to determine their future with the union (I am sure that behind the scenes the Kings are frantically busy trying to keep the players or at least have them leave on their terms).  At the rate players are currently leaving I am not sure how many players will be left but somehow the Kings have to somehow stop the players from running.  After the dust has settled and the Kings can finally count their casualties and see who is left standing they can start planning by identifying positions that has been left considerably weakened by player loss. Flyhalf comes to mind as Catrakilis has confirmed his move to the WP, Wesley Dunlop is on his way to France and rumours are that Whitehead is also on his way (still to be confirmed). The front row can also be a problem with Maku, Buis already leaving and rumours are that Fereirra might be joining the Lions.

• KEEP THE YOUTH (utilize the trained soldier)
Some academy players have gained from Super rugby – either by direct experience at top flight getting some super rugby games (Gates, Shakes, van Breda and Sergeal). Other academy players have been gaining experience at Curriecup level (Aidon Davis etc.).  It is absolutely vital that we keep these players and somehow offer them something to keep them here.  

GET NEW LEADERSHIP
Every army needs a general to direct the troops and with our director of rugby, Alan Solomons, and some of his assistants , Omar Morenheime (defense) and Brad Mooar (skills), leaving, the Kings are left with a major gap in coaching. One of the main priorities would be to obtain the services of some renowned coaches to somehow restore faith with the supporters and promote confidence in the players who remained at the franchise after the mass exodus. Someone who immediately springs to mind would be a guy Jimmy like from the Pumas, he has achieved quite a lot with the limited resources available to him and seems to have the respect of his players and that of the rugby community in general.

NEGOTIATE CONDITIONS OF SURRENDER

This is probably the most important part in the recovery phase and this is the political allegiances and arrangements that can be made in order to create an environment in which one can build a future.

Currently it seems as if the promo/relegation match will be taking place in 2014 and to qualify for 2015 will obviously be first prize – however, we need to consider where this is an achievable goal or whether it might just be out of the reach of the Kings after the current player exodus and how it has affected the group of players that will be available for the match next year. If we are unable to retain a satisfactory amount of players with the necessary skills we might have to consider ‘surrendering’ the match with a few conditions.  

Our conditions should be as follow. We will surrender and accept that we will only get Super rugby participation in 2016 and that such participation must be guaranteed by SARU and an expansion to include a sixth franchise must be approved by SANZAR.  SARU must show intent of developing the region by guaranteeing Curriecup rugby participation in 2014 (latest 2015) either by expanding the current Curriecup competition to 7 teams or to keep it at 6 teams which would be the six franchise teams (WP, Cheetahs, Kings, Bulls, Lions & Sharks).

These conditions will give the Kings negotiating power at academy level and at a later stage at the senior level to contract players and building a squad. Only if SARU commits to the Kings and seriously show their intent in developing can there be a chance of success. The ball is now in SARU’s court – let us see if they are willing to create an allegiance.

KINGS QUEST (PART 2) – PREPARING FOR WAR

REBUILDING AN ARMY

Academy contracting (recruiting)
I suggest that young players who are approached and signed by the academy do so for 3 years (from the age of 18 till 21) after which they will have to do 1 year service to the franchise (at any of the franchise partners).  This is a common practice utilized by businesses when offering bursaries to students – it is a way of ensuring that you get something back for your investment into the individual – will also assist in preventing other unions from easily poaching players trained in our academy. If players wish to leave earlier they must either be released from their Academy contract by the Southern Kings Rugby Union or be bought out of the contract by the interested union (compensate the Kings for the time and effort spent on training the player - these funds must be pushed back into the academy).  

Currently contracting players for the academy will be a difficult job as the Kings are not currently guaranteed a spot in any major international rugby competition and future prospects for players after the academy look a bit bleak.  Here once again a guaranteed participation in Curriecup by SARU can assist the Kings recruiting for the academy until we can get a Super rugby spot after which recruiting should become a lot easier (especially if the participation is guaranteed for a few seasons or more).

• Sign young players (recruit a future army)
Recruiting players for next season should be directed on relatively young players (players between 24 and 27) young enough to see us through to the 2016 season if required and should be signed on a 2 or 3 year contract deal. This task will obviously be made a bit easier if SARU can guarantee our participation in Curriecup from 2014 (latest 2015) and our definite participation in Super rugby (or similar competition – depending on the SANZAR talks) from 2016 onwards.

 

• Aggressive buying (remove opposition resources – buy closest rivals players)
EP Kings at this stage should concentrate on buying players from the Pumas (our competition in 1^st Div) and players from Griquas (our competition in premier division – this would also weaken the Cheetahs a bit).  Why bother being the best in your first year as it is basically impossible – should concentrate on climbing the ranks 1 spot at a time and that is by weakening the squad just above you while improving your own.

• Creative contracting (obtain foreign allies – combine local contracts with overseas contracts)
Here are two ways to get creative with the contracting. 

As the Kings need to strengthen their currie-cup squad they somehow need to be able to offer players something more than just curriecup and the first way to do this is to try and come to some arrangement with the Rebels and/or Force in Australia.  Of all the Super-franchises they are allowed to sign the most foreign players and as Australia in general struggle with player depth this might be a golden opportunity.  A great suggestion that I read posted by a member of the Kings army is to combine contracts and offer players a package deal of playing Currie-cup for Eastern Province and Super rugby for the Rebels (this however will only work in 2014 & 2015 as we would like to keep our players here for the Super rugby 2016 season).

The same approach can be taken towards a Japanese club when we qualify for Super rugby in 2016 – We can then offer players a combined contract deal Super rugby for The Southern Kings and then play for a Japanese club in the Japanese league like Peter Grant did for the Stormers.  Since Japanese clubs are reasonably loaded with cash and often willing to spend large amounts this could be a perfect opportunity to be able to actually offer players larger contracts without over extending themselves. This could enable us to attract some high profile rugby players nearing the end of their careers. Obviously this way of contracting does not necessarily have to be limited to Japan but can be combined with any overseas clubs.

• Loan players (mercenaries)
When it comes to 2016 the Kings will probably have to strengthen their squad with some loan players from other rugby unions like they did this year with the likes of Adongo, Maratlule & Venter.  There are some players in the first division who are good enough to play Superrugby but have not yet had the exposure to break into the big leagues, players like Vleis Engelbrecht, Wimpie van der Walt, Shaun Venter are a perfect example of this.  To be able to do this a close eye needs to be kept on our opposition in the 1^st division to determine what players (not used by other franchises) are capable of making the step up to the next level.

• Bring in the Foreign Legion
(make use of the allowed 2 foreign players – in strategic important positions – building depth in vital positions)
Like the Kings did this year they must make use of the 2 foreigners allowed to the franchise to create squad depth and they must be signed for Curriecup aswell as super rugby.  They must also keep in mind that SARU made it known this year that rugby players from other parts in Africa are not regarded as foreign players and therefor they would make perfect targets for signing without breaking any rules of SARU.  There are some possibilities then for some Zimbabwians & Namibians to play rugby and the Kings should maybe even keep an eye on the Kenyan 7’s rugby team (they are improving in the 7's scene) for possible players that might be up to scratch and ready for battle.

STRENGTHEN YOUR BORDERS

• Help SWD and BORDER to sign better players (the better our neighbours the more depth)
SWD and Border are surely benefiting a bit financially from Super rugby in the region and should have a bit more funding than in the past. We should encourage them to try and attract players from the Leopards and Pumas to their unions, by targeting these teams they are weakening the nearest opposition and could climb a spot or two in the standings. Would be great to have the Kings play in currie cup and have SWD and Border rugby as the best two teams in the First Division (we could then maybe draft more of their players into the actual super squad – this will create much better player depth).

The Kings could assist them in recruiting players in the same way as the Cheetahs assist the Griquas and that is by splitting the ‘bill’ and paying the player fees together (this is only workable if we have Superrugby as the Griquas benefit from the player in curriecup and the Cheetahs during super rugby)

• Assist SWD and BORDER with their academies
The Kings academy have been established for a few years now and we have already started reaping the rewards in producing some quality players for the future – however our neighbours and franchise partners SWD and BORDER have both only recently been approved an academy by SARU. Whether they have been established yet I am not sure, if not we must pressure SARU to open these academies ASAP and once they have been opened the Kings must be willing to help them setup the proper structures and inform them of what their own academy has learned over the past few years. 

The more working academies in our region the larger the crop to choose from and the more development will be achieved.  One way of measuring the player quality and development of the players will be to get them to play in a competition against one another and identify individuals we would like to keep after they have completed their stints with the academies.

• Communication between our franchise partners.
The Kings should communicate to their partner franchises about the players they intend to keep and who are players considered good enough either to be part of the super squad or as players on standby for player depth. In turn the partners should also communicate to the Kings if a player is considering leaving and whether the Kings would want them (or the Kings themselves) to counter offer to try and keep the player in the franchise feeding area.